Superintendent ‘unable to discuss specifics’ on Saugus football coaching situation

By Dom Nicastrosaugus@wickedlocal.com

Friday

Sep 14, 2018 at 9:21 AMSep 14, 2018 at 11:16 AM

Superintendent of Schools Dr. David DeRuosi Jr. spoke for the first time publicly Thursday, Sept. 13 regarding the Saugus High School varsity football team, 14 days after he suspended its head coach for an alleged hazing incident during a practice.

DeRuosi tackled the matter in two fashions -- through an email in the day and by speaking publicly at a School Committee meeting at night -- but he never addressed the actual status of Coach Anthony Nalen.

Instead, DeRuosi used his email statement and public comments to express why he can’t comment on the matter and to place confidence in the coaching replacements, including acting head coach Mike Mabee.

In the School Committee meeting in the Roby Building on Main Street, with the backdrop of two Saugus Police officers patrolling the hallways, DeRuosi said nothing about Nalen, the second-year coach who he suspended with pay Aug. 30 over an allegation he forced a player to practice in his underwear Aug. 17.

At the Belmonte Middle School Thursday night, Sept. 13, Saugus football players, who had just finished practice, confirmed when asked by the Saugus Advertiser that Nalen has yet to return to coaching them. They have their second game of the season Friday night, Sept. 14, on the road at Northeast Regional in Wakefield. Saugus lost to Amesbury in Game 1 last week, 30-12.

Superintendent: ‘Ongoing difficult process to find bodies’

DeRuosi in the School Committee meeting noted the efforts of Mabee (former Belmonte Middle School coach), Mike Monto (current middle school coach) and Mike Plunkett (former middle school coach) for helping the high school football team. Nalen’s assistants walked out a few days after their head coach’s suspension.

“That’s who is running the practice,” DeRuosi said. “We actually had two, they’re currently Marines, that are here on leave that are Saugus High grads. They are on the field as volunteers to assist Mr. Mabee.”

DeRuosi also mentioned the advertisement for an assistant coach he placed on a website this week (already reported in the Advertiser) and said an “experienced” coach from a local community will be coming in Friday, Sept. 14 to fill out paperwork. Another coach candidate will be coming in to see him on Monday, Sept. 17. Mabee may have other experienced people “coming to the plate,” DeRuosi said.

“It has been an ongoing difficult process to find bodies,” DeRuosi said. “I’ve reached out to multiple ADs (athletic directors) and coaches that I have had built relationships with over the last several years in multiple districts. And we’re doing our best to ensure that this season will continue, and there are people on the field with players right now.”

It is unclear if these new coaches will work with Mabee, a potentially reinstated Nalen or on their own.

Former coach: ‘Boys need closure’

Parents who spoke publicly at the School Committee meeting and with the Advertiser outside the school administration offices said they’re still frustrated because they don’t have an answer on the status of Coach Nalen.

“I think the boys need closure,” former Saugus football coach Anthony Cogliano said in the School Committee meeting. “If the coach isn’t coming back or going in a different direction I think the boys are entitled to that. I think the boys came to you like gentlemen the other day (at the Monday, Sept. 10 Saugus Center rally), raised their concerns, and I don’t think they were given answers, and I think they deserve that.”

Mother: Players not in safe situation

Amy Kaplan, whose son plays on the high school team, had concerns that some of the replacement coaches don’t know the names of the players.

“Please tell me how it is safe to have people who do not know the names or positions that these students are playing, to coach them,” Kaplan said, directing her comments to DeRuosi. “’Hey you, go over there and do that.’ That’s safe? I feel it’s a huge safety concern.”

It’s much of the same tone 29 parents expressed in a letter obtained by the Saugus Advertiser Wednesday, Sept. 12. Addressed to the superintendent, they asked for the reinstatement of Coach Nalen along with his “original coaching staff” given that a “third-party” found no wrongdoing of the coach (meaning the police, as previously reported in the Advertiser).

The parents claimed coaching staffs have changed four times and that emails and phone calls have gone ignored.

“Throughout this entire process we have taken the high road knowing that our coach has done nothing wrong and having faith in the fact that you would expedite this process,” the parents wrote. “We were mistaken and now our children pay the price. You are now sending them into their second game of the season without their coaches. If you delay this matter any longer, you now place our children in danger and this is not acceptable especially after last week’s game. What has happened to your duty to our children? Who has the best interests of our children at heart?”

Superintendent email: ‘unable to discuss specifics’

DeRuosi stressed in his email to the Advertiser he’s “unable to discuss the specifics of the situation or details related to individual students or staff members.” (He mentioned in the School Committee meeting he sent the same email to a parent named “McGrane.” Dante McGrane is a team captain).

DeRuosi said in the email he’s received many inquiries from parents regarding the team's coaching staff. The Saugus schools chief added he’s also received many questions about the “background behind the media stories.”

However, he said, “It would not be fair for me to discuss this personnel issue in a public forum, or with the media.”

DeRuosi went on to write the school system's first priority is the “health, wellbeing and education of our students.”

“That priority,” he added, “guides all of our decisions and choices, and when we are made aware of a potential issue involving a student or staff member, we proceed carefully and thoughtfully -- not hastily -- to ensure we fully understand the situation and are equipped to react to it in an appropriate way. The best interest of our students and staff members demands that we proceed in such a deliberate fashion.”

DeRuosi said that if there is a point at which it becomes appropriate to share additional information, he will do so.

“I hope we will all rally around the student athletes on the team,” DeRuosi said, “and support them in every way over the coming season and school year.”

Details come to light in police report

Meanwhile, Saugus police cleared Nalen of any crimes or wrongdoing after an investigation. The day before DeRuosi’s first statements, Saugus Police Chief Ronald Giorgetti released a redacted report regarding the police’s investigation. Police Sgt. Paul VanSteensburg was the reporting officer on the matter.

It concluded with, “I do not believe the elements of any criminal offense has been met. … Coach Nalen adamantly denied knowledge that any player has practiced in their underwear. All other interviews conducted were hearsay statements from concerned parents.”

Police Sgt. VanSteensburg went on to write in the police report that the players involved appeared in no way “endangered physically.”

The report did reveal, however, that the subject of Saugus players practicing in underwear is not limited to the 2018 season. In the police report, a mother of a player on this year’s team (all names were redacted by Saugus Police) said she was approached by two other parents who stated the same thing happened to their children the previous season.

Nalen confirmed in a statement this week that about 17 players had been asked to change out of their practice shorts in the first two weeks of the 2018 season because they did not adhere to the required red, white or black colored shorts. He denied ever forcing any player to practice in their underwear.

The one player in question at the Aug. 17 practice this season told the Advertiser at the Monday, Sept. 10 player protest in Saugus Center that he decided to practice in “compression pants” that day and that the whole situation is “over-exaggerated.”